I would like to make some clarifications, now that the yearbook is out.

The yearbook looks good in real. There have been a lot of work put in the yearbook and lot of work discredited as well.

Just to get down to more specifics. More Courtesies and credits.

The Photos on the Front Cover – Vishesh PuvadiBrilliant shots of the academic block (aka Learning centre) taken by Vish from his room. There were several brilliant pictures of XLRI in his collection. Of the lot, it was a mutual agreement between us that these 4 deserved the cover in that, it captured fleeting moments of our stay at XL.

Negotiations with the Printer – Tuhin Jain 🙂After….. all the hard work on the soft copy. There was still the small issue of getting the hard copy made. Fortunately our maxi chief held a lot of goodwill with Mr Krishna, and was able to pull off a brilliant piece of negotiation to get the entire yearbook done in colour for around 75% of the initial quotation. It might not sound like much. But folks, remember we are dealing in lakhs here.

300 Character limit – Sunil KoulOur very in house Java god helped me out with nifty coding to put in the 300 character limit on the comments box in the yearbook site. Some of you went the extra distance to hack the system. If you did, Congrats and remember next time you might not be so lucky !!! 🙂

Collages – Hrishikesh Godbole
Our man was responsible for the beautiful collages in the yearbook (Between both sections) I would like to apologize as well here, as there were 4 more which did not make it to the yearbook. There was a lot of confusion in the last week of making the yearbook that we lost track of four of the collages he had made. It took him an entire night to make the collages.

Committee Writeups and Photos Collation – Arjun Srinivasan and Naqi AbbasDuring the last week of compilation. The work piled on us from all sides. And we were sent help in the form of Arjun and Naqi who went about bringing order to the chaos. Scouting the huge database for photographs, articles and classifying them in order. It required several buzzes from their side to get some lazy Secys to send in their committee articles and photos.

Signature Hunting – Ashish AgnihotriWe were in need of signatures for getting the funding from the caution deposit. Agnihotri came forward to scout around collecting signatures from the junta in GH-3. It might sound small but to us that day, he was a life saver.

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Things gone wrong

I would like to apologize on behalf of the yearbook team for any of the following errors.

Comments not being printed in the ranked order

AIS photo being put up in profiles (We tried hard to squeeze in time for shooting the better ones, but we had a manpower and time crunch)

Lack of enough collages in the yearbook. (As mentioned earlier, we lost them in the crowd of pictures.)

The descriptions were supposed to be a fun read. There could be some who found it offending or rather impossible to show it to their parents. Our apologies to them as well.

Working on the yearbook has been a frustrating experience. I’m glad it’s over or is it??. Let me not be diplomatic about it, it was shitty work and I have begun to loathe it.

A kaleidoscope of memories which has stamped the frustration deep in.

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“What is your justification in a core committee?”
“Why not?”
“Because there was never a core committee…..There’s no one who’s stuck till the end!!!!”

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“I wish he had helped me in the beginning. I’ve called him so many times.”
“He told me that he’d wanted to be on the core team right from the beginning. What was the justification for not taking him anyway?”
“He was in the design team right from the beginning!!!!!”
“Come on.. Its only natural… anyone would want to be on the core committee…”
“but… I have consulted him on all design issues…”
“Still come on… who wouldn’t want to be part of the core committee….”

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“The CD… I ll take care of it.. I’ve taken responsibility right???”….

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“Ek ghar mein dho yearbook kyun?”

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“Yeah… we have the money. If you reach jampot, we’ll be able to give a hard copy. The printer needs a maximum of 10 days. We ll ask him if he can do it in a week. It should be possible. Meanwhile you reach jampot…..”

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Learnings
The economics of the yearbook. Friends can turn enemies just because they have a better incentive. Worse when they turn to emotional means of coaxing you to work.

Its not only passion that drives work, a certain amount of responsibility chips in. There have been numerous occasions where I have settled for the Softcopy.

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Yet despite all this… there are some who go the extra distance to help you out. I would like to mention Tuhin and many others in this regard, who helped without much of an incentive, just the pleasure of carrying memories home. God bless.

But yes……….. The “credits” page “means” a lot.

p.s.
I think finally the printer guy deserves a two page ad in the yearbook. He might end up shelling 30 k from his own pocket because the batch of 2007 decided to save some money for the “lean” times ahead of them.

Yes… A charity show to aid the cause of to-be corporate managers.
I know my blog is not much read.. but here goes…. Heres to you Mr Krishna

Somebody took my keys sometime back from Aravind. The set consists of two Bajaj keys with two key rings. If any of you have it, kindly return them to me. Sorry for the spam and TIA.

“Don’t take your bike, Saji. What will you be using it for over there? Its dange……..”

“Daddy, atleast there, I get to use it. I don’t want it rusting away here. I’ll take it on the same train anyway. There won’t be any issues transporting it there.”

It’s always hard convincing daddy. This time around, I sounded more responsible I guess. I had just won the debate on taking my bike all the way to Jamshedpur.

July 11I took the bike to the station, made sure it was set to leave on the same train as me, the Dhanbhad express to Jamshedpur. I paid the guy who “embalmed” it 20 bucks just to make sure, it reached Jampot in one piece.

July 13th 2.30pmHopped of the Dhanbad express, went straight to the cargo compartment…… Searched frantically for anything resembling my bike.

“Guess the bums delayed it. Hopefully they’ll send it across the train scheduled to arrive the next day. “

I went on to the freight department and told them about my predicament. My Hindi was broken. I wouldn’t have gone very far without CM helping me with all the Hindi he knew.

“Bhaiiyaa. Isko bahut takleef hai”

I was told to come again the next day to check up on the bike. I went the next day again with CM, hoping to see some sign of the bike. Nope…none.Days slipped into weeks. Three weeks on, I spot this kind gentleman at the freight department who resolved to trace the bike down for me. I don’t know what he did. but 3 days hence, i spotted the bike in the bike stand with all the embalming intact.Did a quick check up and found the clutch hanging loose broken at the edges.

“Bhaiyya, Clutch ko kya hua?” , He glanced back. More of a grimace.

I could hear his expressions shout….”Come on sonny, I thought you wanted the bike !!! Do you think I rode it all the way here ??”

As I took my bike, the supervisor narrated the story of how my bike went all the way to Dhanbad, found no takers there and returned to Chennai. It was in Chennai when yours truly traced it. He managed to get it across to Jampot in one piece. As I rolled my bike out, he sported a grin. (lets say signing off in style) I handed him a hundred rupee note. (It was the least I could give!) “Kaafi hai bhaiya”“Thank you Sir”I thanked CM for all the help, took it to the nearest bunk, filled some petrol and was away to college, quite relieved that the Indian Railways was atleast this good. (Dante was also part of the several rescue attempts. Bro…If you read this, Thank you)

I looked out my window towards the bike stands. Hmmm… my bike stood right there. Unfortunately no keys. It sported a second skin of dust, though.

Sometimes, friends can turn out to be worse than the railways. But must confess, it has not been a totally bad experience. I have …gotten to use my bike. While the railways emptied the tank, friends always kept it full. I’ve never had to fill petrol (Probably thrice at XLRI… I m not joking!!!)

Right now, as I wait for some kind soul who took my bike to return the keys, (All I’m asking for is a bit of responsibility) I can’t help feel some kind pf remorse in not listening to my dad. Perhaps, the bike would have been better off at home.

I guess, the railways is a little better, it did bother to return my bike.p.s.Friends, in the above rumination, for all purposes, is to be taken in context. I shall not be held responsible for any misinterpretation of the same.

Life in a B-School is no walk in the park. I learnt this the only way it could be. The summer internship process is to start in a few days here. I will fondly remember them as some of the most traumatic days in my life.

my heart began to beat a little faster. The eeriness of GH3 made it a little harder for me to silence the excitement.

‘Please…god.. atleast now…’

Fear made me stay back. I opened up the ‘summers’ folder…quickly scanned the folder for the CTS application. Went through the answers .

‘No… nothing wrong .. here’

shut down my comp. The entire afternoon was spent in contemplation. went down for the 4.15 pm lecture. The board remained a blur throughout.

The previous nine companies had ditched me. I was one of the last 10 to be shortlisted. I had company in my roomie. We kept each other good company in fact. We never had to console each other, because both were in the same boat, heading nowhere.

s…sanj.. saur.. shiv…..

The weight pulled me down. It was becoming difficult to put on a brave face. The past seemed to have suddenly lost meaning. I walked straight on, fighting to keep the tears back. I did not want to call up home.

The rumination did not help much either. It was sometime later that evening that I got my first shortlist. It wasn’t a miracle. Everyone who applied were shortlisted. but comforting… yes….

Now, as I write this blog, with a PPO from EY (one of the 5 companies to have shortlisted me, including the one above) I can’t help but laugh to myself……. Life and the box of chocolates.

Vikky … yeah… I guess I did come the full circle.

Juniors……well…chuck it… Who am I to be advising anyway?……Enjoy the coming week.

“Conjunctivitis!!!”“No. Actually I don’t know what. It happened after the Bod…”At this point, the person is no longer looking at me. I begin to feel like a patient who’s just had the pleasure of having his scalp opened up by Dr. Hannibal.“Did you see the doctor?”“No.”“Then why don’t you!!!”Others choose to simply flip over. “Saji, Saji please look at us and give us all Conjunctivitis.”(How much did you say is it going for in the markets?)Funnier still are the ones who realise it is conjunctivitis in the middle of a conversation. The following is one I had with someone on the lift…“Dude!! Kya? Just woke up?”“Nahi yaar. Somethings gone wrong with the eye”“IR Chootiye…”“I don’t know… I don’t think its conjunctivitis…”There is momentary silence. It’s like the other person had a sudden attack of claustrophobia. His whole body wants to cringe away and his mind preventing. The silence reigns, till we reach the 4th floor. “Take care, dude!” Still looking away from me. “Conjunctivitis” brings with it a bundle of goodies. I get to stay the whole day in my room doing things, which I’ve wanted to do for ages like reading a good book. The others don’t mind either. They would rather have you stay to yourself. It is one time when fraxing becomes legal. (For the uninitiated, to frax is to free-ride) But it’s weird at the same time. I personally don’t enjoy people telling me I sleep a lot. I don’t. Conjunctivitis has given me the laziest-soul-on-GH4 look which I’ve begun to abhor. Right now, my only prayer is I don’t get to the point of wearing glasses like my super sexy Chief Minister. Now don’t get me wrong here. No particular reason. Don’t think the fashion’s caught on in the North yet…

27th May, 2006. D-day. The result of a month of hard work was to show in an hour. The venue – the Royal Orchid Plaza. I was really anxious to see it unravel before my eyes. Even more because of the large sponsorship we had notched. Shatdal and me had spent a lot of time on the field for the alumni meet and was in a way hoping for it all to end soon. It was not doing any good to our projects but our experience had taught us a lot. With the grades we boasted of I guess the decision was easy. Of the sponsors for the evening, Urban Yoga and MohanChoti were the biggest. We also had Canon sponsoring in kind with a Photo Shoot Studio. To make it even more memorable, everyone who took photographs that evening was given a XLRI titled frame to carry the photograph along. Bodhi Tree graced the “festival” too and it was not long before we had the alumni swaying to the beats of GMD and XL Ki Kudiyan. Better still, I was at the drums. I still hold on to the drum sticks I used that night. Not everyone gets to drum live on stage for the Bodhi Tree! Some of the alumni went all out for the “Crooner of the Night” award and did well in the process. Think A+ sponsored in kind with Kids games and the kids were treated to good intellectual entertainment.To increase the nostalgia quotient, the alumni were subjected to farewell videos of the 2005 and 2006 batch. It was no surprise when the familiar chant began to make its presence felt. We got a doze of 1…2…3…4 to open the dance floors. “We want a Wet Night experience”. Unfortunately Bangalore has turned into the epitome of merciless curfews. All hotels and restaurants were “obliged” to close by 11.30 to ensure that they remained “operational” the next day. Hence the wet night experience did not carry on very long. But on the brighter side, the biggest party, the biggest sponsors, the best chapter and to top it all the most enthusiastic bunch of summer interns. …Viva XL Bang! … Viva XL!

I m a paying guest. Bangiyappa gardens to be my residence for close to 10 weeks. No sight of a flower around let alone a garden. or was it that tuft of grass growing in the corner? Anyway a garden its called.

but for the lack of a garden, the lack of water, crowded rooms, the dog that prefers to “mark” (quite a pungent mark at that) the entrance as its territory, the place is damn neat.
The place is a quarter kilometre from where i work now. for company, I have in order of meeting Shifin, Aditya, Koushik, Anshul and Jinson. Aditya and Anshul, summer trainees themselves.

Anshuls trying his hand at cooking today. Must say hes quite the cook. Hes cooked a pasty Poha today. I used to despise this “thing” up there in Jamshedpur. But now, it tastes simply delicious. Guess I have higher priorities in my life now.

Only when you are away do u realise how close u were, how much u miss them. You now realise that u have one more chance, one more year to make it up, to be part of those moments, to carry with u those memories, to pick those bits and pieces….